Jordan River Trail: Arrowhead Park to WW2 Memorial Park

This section of The Jordan River Parkway is quite lovely with quite a few neat things to see along the way. It connects to Arrowhead Park and several other fun trails. This is another random adventure walk with friends.

Quick Details:

Length: 1.2 miles out and back, we did a little extra exploring at 1.72 miles.
Trail Type: Connector, out and back.
Difficulty: DR2. Paved, pretty easy going.
Elevation Gain: 49 feet.
Restroom: At Arrowhead Park.
Dogs? Yes, Leashed.
Other Info: Cities: Murray, Taylorsville. JRP Mile Markers: none (unless you go a bit further).

To Get Here:

If coming from the north, take i15 to 4500 S, go west. Turn left on 500 west. Take that to Murray/Taylorsville rd (4800 s) hang right, then immediately left.

If coming from the south, take the 5300 S exit. Go west, turn right on Murray Blvd. Turn left on Murray/Taylorsville rd (4800 s), then immediately left.

The Trail:

I love that I am starting to see these signs locally. It really helps our local birds. It reads:

Thank You
For not feeding us bread

Bread makes us ill and does not contain the right nutrition or calories that we need to keep
us warm in winter

Rotting bread pollutes our water and causes nasty surface algae, which kills our fish and gives us diseases it also makes our water smell

We do like:
Cut seedless grapes, cooked rice, bird seed, peas, corn, oats and chopped lettuce.

After starting to head towards Germania Park, we changed our minds and headed north instead.

Crossing into Taylorsville.

Crossing over the Jordan River.

It is nice and green through here.

The river.

With some geese.

Pretty trail.

River went from calm, to not so calm.

Ah. It’s a low head dam. These things are super, super dangerous, so keep away from it. They are also referred to as drowning machines. If you get caught up in one of these, your chances of survival are very, very slim. That water is just a churning cycle that will continue to pull you in and under. You can see in my previous image there is a portage for canoers to exit, and I think I recall seeing a warning sign, so hopefully this is one most people avoid.

The calm river above, and you can see the backs of the warning signs, and the portage to the right. I am not a kayaker, but that seems like not a whole lot of distance to avoid disaster.

Below the dam. Just look at all the air bubbles created from the way it churns.

The water remains quite stirred up for a little ways down.

Really pretty flowers.

Overflow from a nearby canal, that I cant seem to find a name for. It appears to be what the dam was constructed for though.

Eventually we made it to the WW2 Memorial Park. Where we found this monument.

Welsh Settlement

October 1849 Under the leadership of Dan Jones, a Welsh company entered the valley. Later a few settled a farming community along the river, a short distance north of here. They were not adept at farming. So the settlement was abandoned with many going to Sanpete County to mine coal and settle the town of Wales.

Erected by Taylorsville/Bennion Sons of the Utah Pioneers 2007.

Snort. So, they failed and abandoned it.

The WW2 Memorial Park proper.

Some of the memorial plaques.

Of course there is a flag as well.

We decided to go the little extra distance under 4500 S.

Where I found Mile Marker 30.

We decided to check out this cool old bridge.

We decided we would head back.

View of the river.

Heading back under 45th south.

The river and mountains.

The river.

Looking back towards the low head dam.

Back to the pretty flowers.

Pretty wooded section.

Tamarisk.

Bridge.

View from bridge.

Re-entering Murray.

Bridge under 4800 S.

That was a nice section. A little bit on the shorter side. It wasn’t terribly busy on this nice evening either. Going with 8 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it is completely paved, and fairly flat DR2.

Dogs are allowed, but must remain leashed. Please follow the rules so everybody can enjoy the area.